Texas Tech should pursue Bob Marlin, and then Billy Gillispie

”Bob Marlin is one of the best coaches in America that not many people may know.”—JAY BILAS

Kirby Hocutt is one lucky son of a gun. First, he has a great new job. Second, he has at least two terrific candidates for his basketball opening. There probably are at least a hundred who other men who’d do nice work, but I know two who’d make Kirby Hocutt look real smart.

What’s the goal? In other words, what can basketball be at Texas Tech? Should it be in the NCAA Tournament every year or almost every year? Can it be a Top 25 program?

Can Texas Tech come close to be as good as Texas? OK, that’s a tough one. Texas Tech isn’t going to get the kind of talent Texas gets, so the new Tech coach will have to find talent he can sign, keep and coach up.

That’s exactly what Mark Turgeon has done at Texas A&M, and that’s the model program for what Texas Tech basketball can be. So when Hocutt comes up with a list of things he wants in a new coach, he’ll want:

• Deep ties to Texas high school basketball. By that I mean, good, solid relationships. He’ll need coaches recommending his program to kids, and he’ll need coaches recommending talent to him.

• A teacher, a really good teacher, a guy with the ability to teach kids how to play the game the right way. Defense is important. So is rebounding, passing, blocking out and playing hard from one end of the floor to the other.

• A public relations master. Texas Tech has a lot of work to fill those empty seats, and the new hoops coach must be someone cut from the cloth of Tommy Tuberville, who has done a masterful job traveling the state selling his program to Tech alums.

He should start by phoning University of Louisiana-Lafayette and asking for permission to interview Bob Marlin. He’s the complete package. Unfortunately for Texas Tech, he may be unwilling to leave ULL after just one season.

He took the ULL job a year ago when the UH AD Mack Rhoades couldn’t pull the trigger on an offer. He accepted a mandate to build a program, and his work is far from done.

If Marlin won’t leave, then Hocutt’s choice is easy. Billy Clyde Gillispie is rested and ready.

There’ll be much discussion about his ”baggage.” I’ve been told Wyoming passed on Gillispie because of those baggage. I have no idea who Wyoming will hire, but it’s unlikely to be someone better.

Let’s begin with the reasons to hire Billy Clyde. First, he’s a very, very good coach. Second, he’s a very, very good recruiter. Third, he has deep ties to Texas high school basketball. Fourth, he does not cheat. Fifth, he will graduate his players.

Now to that downside. He hasn’t always been nice to people. He has had some drinking issues. He gets one job and then immediately starts looking for the next one.

But he has been out of work for two years, and if two years off doesn’t give him some perpsective, nothing will. He has gone around the state touching bases with friends and mentors. He reached out to some in the media to express his desire to coach again.

I don’t know how much people can really change, but I’d hire him in a heartbeat. I’d sign him to a long-term contract and I’d make it a very hard contract to break and I’d make sure he put his signature on it before he hung one picture on the wall of his new office.

He would make Texas Tech competitive. He would get Texas Tech fans excited. He would be the right choice.

Bob Marlin is a great coach. As an shsu alum I hated to see him go. Look at how Sam fell flat this year with pretty much the same team that came close to stealing a victory from Baylor in the dance last year without Marlin.

I still am furious at the UH Cougars for not pursuing Billy Gillispie. They fire Penders after he got them to the tournament to hire a washed up coach from Texas Tech who lead them to a losing record. Billy Gillispie was obviously the better choice for the Coogs.

I hated BCG when he left A&M but I have to admit, he was a hell of a coach. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get the prima donna players he inherited at UK to buy into his philosophy of hard work. Yeah, he’s had issues…but hell, who among us hasn’t?? I say give him a shot…

So another words, Texas Tech should pursue the two coaches that UH should have gotten but didn’t because they got washed up James Dickey. Who has done nothing but lead the team to the worst season they have had since Drexler was let go. I don’t even think Mc Callum had a season like this.

Yep…UH screwed the pooch not taking Marlin. He’s a great coach, still youthful and players just love him. Marlin coaches sound MBB…when that bunch at ULL started listening and believing in BM philosophy of the game, they ripped through their schedule. TTech would be just flat out stupid not to pursue Marlin. I’d venture to bet Bobby Knight would tell Tech the same damn thing.

Uh, that isn’t the same SHSU team–they lost their entire backcourt. They returned Gilberto and not much else. They’ve probably done as well as expected this year, imo.

And I thought Marlin was a good coach, especially taking Sam from horrible to competitive and doing it pretty quickly. But they also choked in at least two Southland tournaments, coming in as a high seed and failing to even get to the semifinals. And they were competitive last year to Baylor, but were blown out in their other appearance…and then he leaves for another smallish D-1 school and a rebuilding project at that. Just not sure why Justice loves him so danged much all of a sudden. I think Billy Clyde is the obvious choice for Tech, like RJ said, assuming they can get him to sign a long-term contract that is damn near impossible to get out of when he starts to get that wanderlust running in his veins again.

jarred, i hate to see uninformed shsu alums posting on chronicle boards. shsu fell flat this year? co-champs of the west in the southland! same team as last year? minus two of the best guards in school history in ashton mitchell and corey allmond, plus forward preston brown. seriousl?

“I’d hire him in a heartbeat. I’d sign him to a long-term contract and I’d make it a very hard contract to break and I’d make sure he put his signature on it before he hung one picture on the wall of his new office.”

And then you would bail him out of jail and pay for the wrecked car. Why do you keep pushing this total train wreck?

And Cougar fan, if you could not see how bad a coach that Penders was then you really don’t know basketball.

Drinking issues? Is that documented? I think I remember he got a DWI which by no means is condoned, but is there a pattern? Has he been arrested multiple times? That’s a pretty strong statement to throw out there…

[He was arrested for DUI in 1999, 2003 and 2009. Does that constitute a pattern?--Richard]

Hire Billy Clyde and a driver for Billy Clyde. Also, you’ll want to stock up on single malt scotch… something with a Glen in front of it.Tech hired Bob Knight and Mike Leach. Billy Clyde seems like the simple answer.

In terms of it being a pattern, it looks like the time period between DWI’s is increasing. By my calculations his next one won’t be until 2017. He might be with another program by then. Let’s give him a shot. I mean let’s give him a chance.

To be honest i can’t understand how Texas Tech can attract a top notch coach for any sport. Not to knock Lubbock, Texas, but it would be low on my list of places to wanna spend the next few years of my life. Gotta be hard to attract atheletes too. Any coach who goes there is just biding his time looking for another job.

The difference in A&M getting BCG and Tech getting BCG…is that A&M is a flagship school of the state. Who cares about Tech? They got lucky having Bobby Knight as a coach, but that’s where it ends. Tech needs to worry more about their third tier academic status and less about competing with the big boys in sports. Flash meet pan. Didn’t they almost lose their academic accreditation a few years back?